The last time we checked on the trajectory of the looming rail strike, four freight rail unions, with a combined membership of close to 60,000 rail workers, had voted down the five-year contract agreement brokered by the Biden administration back in September.
Now Biden is begging Congress for its help in halting the strike, which is slated to begin Dec. 9, amid the Christmas shopping season.
“I am calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown,” the president said in a statement, adding that his administration believes “there is no path to resolve the dispute at the bargaining table.”The deal Biden wants to force upon 12 unions representing rail workers was tentatively agreed to in September, following a 20-hour negotiating session.
Soon-to-be former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi indicated that lawmakers now plan to intervene. The move may not go down well with some union-centric Democrats.
Ms. Pelosi said in a statement soon afterward that “this week, the House will take up a bill adopting the tentative agreement — with no poison pills or changes to the negotiated terms — and send it to the Senate.”It is less clear what will happen in the Senate, where Democrats have 50 seats in the 100-member chamber and most bills require Republican support to pass. The deadline for action is in early December, when several of the labor unions plan to go on strike if an agreement is not reached.In urging Congress to impose a solution on the dispute, Mr. Biden picked an aggressive stance that could pit him and his Democratic allies against the wishes of rank-and-file union members, who have long been frustrated with treatment by the rail companies.
Given the success rate of the Biden administration, tech firms supplying critical semiconductor chips have started shifting cargo shipments from railroads to trucks.
The moves are being made, DHL Global Forwarding tells CNBC, in an effort to avoid any pre-strike rail preparations that would force freight rail companies to prioritize cargo.The tech cargo being sent to trucks include semiconductor chips critical to the high-tech sector and auto industry.“This is tech cargo originating out of California,” said Goetz Alebrand, head of ocean freight for the Americas at DHL Global Forwarding. Alebrand said there is now more truck capacity than there had been when a rail strike was first threatened in September as a result of fewer containers ships overall coming in to U.S. ports.“There are more trucks and chassis, but that does not mean there are enough trucks to move all rail cargo onto trucks,” Alebrand said.
However, trucks need fuel. And gas station owners warned the strike good impact gas and diesel supplies.
Earlier Monday, two associations representing gas station owners warned Monday that a freight rail shutdown, which could happen as soon as Dec. 9, could jeopardize their ability to keep fuel in stock across the country.“If a work stoppage were to occur, it would immediately disrupt fuel marketers’ ability to ensure a reliable and stable supply of fuel for U.S. consumers and for the nation’s commercial fleets,” said Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, a spokesperson for NATSO, which represents travel plaza and truckstop owners.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent the railroad workers a strongly worded message during an interview with Leeland Vittert of NewsNation that the Biden administration will not support a freight rail union strike ahead of the holiday season.
….BUTTIGIEG: Well, look, our goal right now is to make sure that doesn’t happen.And we’re urging the parties to get to the table and to do whatever it takes to prevent a shutdown. A shutdown is a scenario that is not acceptable. We got through the worst of the days in terms of the shipping backlogs. We’ve made headway on trucking. But if we don’t have a healthy, functioning strong rail system….VITTERT: Can the American economy deal with it if it happens?BUTTIGIEG: It would not be good.VITTERT: Catastrophic?BUTTIGIEG: We don’t have enough trucks or barges or ships in this country to make up for the rail network.
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